SparkTalks | Nov. 13, 2025
SparkTalks - Nov. 2025
What:
Igniting the thoughts and solutions of influential UIC changemakers to inspire and create a better world.
- 36 presenters
- 3-minute talks
- 2 hours of inspiration
When:
Thursday, November 13, 2025
1:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Where:
Student Center East, Illinois Room
Please contact sparktalks@uic.edu with any questions.
Online registration is now closed.
Agenda
| 1:00 – 1:30 p.m. | Check-in |
| 1:30 – 2:45 p.m. |
Chancellor's Welcome
SparkTalks Round 1 (See below for the order of presentations) |
| 2:45 – 3:00 p.m | Break |
| 3:00 – 4:15 p.m. | SparkTalks Round 2 (See below for the order of presentations) |
| 4:15 – 4:45 p.m. | Reception |
Order of Presentations
SparkTalks - Round 1
- Jessica BrodeFrank | Activating Participation with Collections: Intervening with the public to build digital literacy within community
- Yochai Eisenberg | Planning Smart and Disability-Inclusive Communities
- Tarini Bedi | The Social Life of Infrastructure
- Stuart Ford | We the People of the United States: The Source of the Constitution’s Authority
- Maria Therese Galang-Boquiren | Leading UIC Dentistry’s Response to the Public Health Burden of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- Leah Burt | Lead-Dx: Learning Equity, Addressing Disparities in Diagnosis
- Radhika Sreedhar | Artificial Intelligence in Medicine discipline at UICOM
- Anna Guevarra | Unearthing Submerged Histories and Engaging Multiple Publics
- Nancy Shapiro |UIC RCOP Summer Program: Contemporary Clinical Pharmacy Practice and Education
- Robert DiFazio | The Chicago Hip-Hop History Project: Building a digital home for the culture
- Dale Reed | Computer Mind-Reading
- P.S. Sriraj | Employer Perspectives About Work From Home
- Krista Jones | Nursing Experts Translating Evidence into Practice
- Linda Hagen | Pretty Healthy Food
- Claire Johnson Raba | Impacts of Civil Asset Forfeiture in Chicagoland
- Kaleb Germinaro | Gather, Design, Build: Speculative Inquiry for Resisting the Displacement of Peoples, Knowledge and Modes of Being
- Benjamin Sanchez Terrones | Engineering Advances in Cardiology and Oncology
SparkTalks - Round 2
- Jeremy Riel | Everyone is a Tech Person: Developing Educator AI and Computing Skills Across the Disciplines
- Janet Lin | Community-Centered Comprehensive Care for Chronic Conditions (C6) Model in SW Chicago
- Elizabeth Todd-Breland | Public History for the Public Good
- Lisa Sharp | Daily Walking to Increase Asthma Control Among Black Women in Chicago
- Stephanie Bay | Assistive Technology Unit – Maximizing Independent Living through the Application of Technology
- Maria Varelas | Braiding the Performing Arts in Science for Knowledge and Identity Construction: “Science Theatre Makes You Good at Science”
- Brian Layden | Updates on the UIC Diabetes Center
- Robert DiDomenico | Community-based mobile programs to promote health awareness, prevention and wellness in underserved communities
- Derrick Stevens | Teaching and Learning Support for Faculty in the School of Public Health
- Nancy Freitag | No pain, no gain: How anesthetics increase severity of microbial infection
- Rand Harlow | Advances in Digital and Implant Dentistry
- Yingda Lu | Leveraging AI-assisted Coding to Reshape Business School Education
- Elizabeth Glover | Rewiring the Brain: Leveraging breakthrough technology to provide new insights into treatment for addiction
- Carolyn Dickens | BRIDGeS: An initiative to reduce incivility toward nurses
- Shahnaz Ibrahim | UIC B Corp Impact Clinic: Advancing Experiential Learning Through Purpose-Driven Business Education
- Leslie Williams | Overdose Prevention Champions!: Training non-drug-using friends and family of people who use drugs to provide social support around accessing harm reduction tools and services
- James Swartz | Impact of the Illinois Tax Regulation Act
- Ian Kash | Uses predictive analytics to improve restaurant inspections in Chicago, revealing how inspector behavior can cause geographic disparities
Questions or concerns
Questions or concerns? Please contact our team at sparktalks@uic.edu.
Employees may be released from work without loss of pay to attend such events and meetings whenever operations permit. As long as supervisors receive adequate notice of such approved events and meetings and coverage can be arranged, every effort should be made by departments to release employees to attend.